K & T Market

Spring soccer has started for Vida and practices are being held at “Little Rec” by the children’s playground in Golden Gate Park. This is an ideal spot since the playground has plenty for Victor to do while Vida practices. We have been having a blast going down the concrete slides on pieces of cardboard, playing in the water feature and climbing the structures. I always make sure Victor has his rain boots so he can really get into the water without getting soaked. The only problem from my perspective is that practices often run an hour and a half and I start going a little crazy standing there so long especially when the sun goes down, the ocean breezes pick up and it gets cold. After several weeks of this I decided that I needed to cut our park time down a bit. I thought that going to get Victor after I dropped Vida and her friend B off at practice instead of before might save whatever bit of sanity I had left by that time in the day.

There is a little store on 11th and Clement called K and T Market that I drive by after dropping Victor off at Muffinville in the morning. I was interested in it because of the old Fresca sign. This store isn’t open in the mornings, a sign that it’s probably run by one family that works there all day long—“K” and “T” possibly. All of the signs are very old and faded. There have been multiple efforts at painting out graffiti leaving the building and awning looking neglected. When Vic and I parked in front of the store I was happy to see one full box of broken down boxes—that has to mean they actually stocked something that day but it is also a sign that they don’t care enough about the appearance of the place to put them out after closing or in a recycling bin.

We walked in and I attempted to say hello to the older Chinese man behind the counter but he could barely bring himself to reply. I actually needed to buy toilet paper and just knowing that I had a mission helped me to relax and really look around without getting nervous. The old shelves had metal fronts to keep product from falling. The first shelf I noticed had six feet at least of Chef Boyardee products, the shelf below contained only Swanson’s chicken broth.



When we checked out the woman behind the counter was just a degree friendlier. Victor came in the store eating some cheese crackers and she glanced at her husband to see if he thought we were eating something without paying for it. Considering the arm load of things we were buying I didn’t think they should be eying us so suspiciously.

Vic’s Treat—Capri Sun-- Beer of the Day—12 oz Budweiser bottle